Tour TaLaya Brown's Family Home in a Historic Black Neighborhood

TaLaya Brown and her husband Kerrick Faulkner transformed his grandmother's midcentury modern home in a historically Black neighborhood in Charlotte, NC, into the "forever home" that they both love.

By: Gloria Ballard

Show: HGTV Handmade

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Photo By: Tomas Espinoza

Photo By: TaLaya Brown

Photo By: Tomas Espinoza

Photo By: TaLaya Brown

From the Fifties to 'Forever'

TaLaya Brown doesn’t consider herself an interior designer — she’s a nail artist, self-taught, who owns a nail salon in Charlotte, North Carolina. But the artistic talent that she applies to clients’ hands spills over in a big way to the midcentury modern home that she has transformed into the open and airy “forever home” that she and her husband, Kerrick Faulkner, enjoy.

“I am a design enthusiast, but I never actually wanted to be an interior designer," TaLaya says. “It kind of grew on me as I got older.”

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

To Grandmother's House We Go

Kerrick’s grandparents built the house in Charlotte’s Oaklawn Park neighborhood in 1956. “I remember when me and my husband were dating, when his grandmother was still alive, we would come here for holidays," TaLaya remembers. “It just felt so warm, so inviting. That’s why I was so adamant about doing this house justice, because I knew that it was a family jewel.”

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Opening Up

TaLaya describes the house before the remodel as “like homes in 1956 were built.” Rooms were closed off, there were a lot of doors, wall-to-wall carpet everywhere. Right away, she knew she wanted to “open everything up,” she says. She began in the kitchen by removing a half-wall with a bar, and eliminating a door, resulting in a bright, breezy kitchen space.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Wood Adds Warmth

In the kitchen, white subway tile, floating shelves and an expansive kitchen island provide a sense of spaciousness to the formerly closed-off room. Honey color wood accents lend warmth to the black and white design scheme.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Picture-Perfect Pantry

What was once the dining room became the pantry. “It’s a very oddly shaped space,” she says, and necessary because they removed the upper cabinets in the kitchen. It’s a picture-perfect space: baskets and bins are labeled; mirrors and wall hangings complement the food staples and storage containers. “I love organization,” TaLaya says. “I just always love the way that it looks. It makes me feel accomplished that it’s all neat and put-together. It’s a relaxing thing for me, so having open shelving and an open pantry is not a hard thing for me to keep up with.”

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Always Close to Home

Near the kitchen and pantry, a framed photo of Kerrick’s grandparents and the original owners, Laura and Matthew Wingate, shows they still have a place in the home. “We always just love to have this picture of them just looking over the house and watching over us,” TaLaya says.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Up-to-Date Dining

In the new dining area, wood paneling that was already in place was covered with board-and-batten detail to give it a more modern look. The two-tone design emphasizes TaLaya’s design preference of using natural textures and colors.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Comfort in Style Choices

“My design style has evolved over the years,” TaLaya says. “Initially, when we moved into our house, it was really colorful, with lots of colorful accessories.” Over time, she found herself drawn more to neutral palettes. “I made a shift, started taking away the colorful things and replacing them with more black and white, natural tones and textures. I’ve realized that’s what made me feel more comfortable.”

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

A Room to Really Live In

The living room transformation was another move that brought the house into the 21st century. “When Kerrick was growing up, this was the room nobody went in. It was very formal, very staged and styled, and only got used during holidays.” TaLaya was “very intentional” about getting the most mileage out of the space “because for so many years, it didn’t get a lot of use.” The living room is the room with the best light, and it’s where she enjoys morning tea, and where Honey, the couple’s rescued terrier-mix pup, enjoys being “on neighborhood patrol” from a bench by the large window.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

New Built-in Bookshelves

Built-in shelves were high on the priority list during the transformation. “I wanted a space to put all the things I love to look at on a regular basis, and I knew that I wanted it to look like it had been here,” she says. Her brother, Eric Tardy, builds custom furniture, and he crafted the clean-lined wall of shelves that flank a living room window. "Eric has done so many projects for us. Our home wouldn’t be what it is without him," TaLaya says.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Accent Wall Brings In the Energy

One room that has served multiple purposes has now found its calling as a home gym. “When COVID hit, we couldn’t go to the gym anymore, and we decided to make this a workout room.” TaLaya knew that she wanted a dramatic accent wall as a focal point. The solution was to use stencils in different geometric shapes to design and then paint the wall in her favorite color combination, black and white.

Watch the video: How to Design a Geometric Accent Wall

Midcentury Floors Made New Again

TaLaya Brown's renovated midcentury modern home includes the original hardwood floors in most areas. "We matched the kitchen and primary bedroom flooring to the rest of the house before getting it all refinished," TaLaya explains. The tawny color adds a warm accent to the home's black-and-white decor theme.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Updated Midcentury Modern Style

"I love midcentury modern style, and I knew that somewhere in my house I wanted a slat wall," TaLaya says. Her brother Eric installed the wall in the primary bedroom, TaLaya painted it, "and it turned out wonderfully." The accent wall highlights the room and sets the background for the other warm, natural tones.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Gallery Wall of Memories

A favorite feature of the bedroom is the gallery wall, photos of her and Kerrick in places they have visited in their travels — Montreal, Seattle, Asheville and more. “I love waking up and seeing this as the first thing that I see. It makes me happy. It makes my husband happy.”

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Accent on Warm + Cozy

“I wanted this space to be as calm and minimal as possible,” TaLaya says. “That’s why we went with the really light walls, and really light bedding.” A cognac shade for the draperies and linens, in furnishings and in a juju hat on the wall over the bed, add warmth to the black-and white room — “Warm and kind of cozy, like a hug,” she says.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Touch of Texture and Culture

The ceremonial juju hat as a décor element on the bedroom wall is one of several special items in their home, TaLayla says. The hats, made by hand from raffia and thickly layered with feathers, are from Cameroon, in central West Africa, where they have been used in traditional royal ceremonies for centuries. “I have a couple of them throughout the house,” TaLaya says. “They add a lot of texture — and culture as well.”

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Mudcloth's Unique Accents

Accents using mudcloth are another nod to West African culture throughout the home. “Mudcloth is something I have always been drawn to, but when I began to learn about the process of it, it made me fall in love with it even more,” TaLaya says. Every design of mudcloth is unique and has its own meaning. “I like to use it throughout our home because it gives me a feeling of comfort, and of culture — and it’s my colors, black and white. I love black and white.”

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Mirrors for Light and Style

TaLaya uses mirrors of different shapes, sizes and styles throughout the house. “I love mirrors,” she says. “Because its’s a smaller house, I think it’s a good way to reflect light and add another visual element to the room.”

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Room to Grow — Houseplants

TaLaya became a plant person after they moved into the house, when greenery seemed to be the “something extra” that was needed. “It started with one, and then two, and then three, and then 10, and then 20. And now I have this beautiful collection of plants that I love so much, they are like my babies,” she says. In fall and winter, the houseplant collection lives inside, but when the weather warms, she brings them out to the front porch.

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Front Porch Connections

The front porch is a favorite spot to relax and an important connection to the community. "Especially in the spring and summer, we sit out on the porch all the time," TaLaya says. From the porch, she explains, you see your neighbors, talk to them, catch up with neighborhood news. "I just love that community aspect of it."

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Preserving Neighborhood History

Oaklawn Park has been a historically Black community since it was built in the mid-1950s, when her husband’s grandparents built their home here. “It’s a blue-collar neighborhood — teachers, police officers, postal service workers — those are the types of people who lived in this neighborhood. So now, it’s a really highly sought-after area.”

So when neighbors realized that gentrification was slowly creeping in, they got ahead of it by becoming a historic district — the first Black neighborhood in Charlotte to receive that designation, TaLaya says. “We had to get the whole community involved. It was so important to us because we wanted to really preserve the character of our neighborhood, the brick houses, the community of our neighborhood. And we got it done.”

The historic designation means that a buyer will not be able to tear down an original brick house and replace it with a design out of character with the rest of the community, she explains. “We’re really proud of the fact that we’re preserving the history of our neighborhood.”

Watch the Video: Tour a Historic Family Home in Charlotte, North Carolina

Style Changes, Naturally

“Initially when we moved into our house it was really colorful, with a lot of colorful accessories,” TaLaya says. “Over time I was drawn to a more neutral palette, so I made a shift, started taking away the colorful things and replacing them with more black and white, natural tones and textures, and I realized that was what made me feel more comfortable.”

Love this space? See how TaLaya's design style has changed over time: Pattern Rules in This Fun North Carolina Renovation

Tour TaLaya Brown's Family Home in a Historic Black Neighborhood

Related To:

Shop This Look

From the Fifties to 'Forever'

To Grandmother's House We Go

Opening Up

Wood Adds Warmth

Picture-Perfect Pantry

Always Close to Home

Up-to-Date Dining

Comfort in Style Choices

A Room to Really Live In

New Built-in Bookshelves

Accent Wall Brings In the Energy

Midcentury Floors Made New Again

Updated Midcentury Modern Style

Gallery Wall of Memories

Accent on Warm + Cozy

Touch of Texture and Culture

Mudcloth's Unique Accents

Mirrors for Light and Style

Room to Grow — Houseplants

Front Porch Connections

Preserving Neighborhood History

Style Changes, Naturally

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